The Goo Goo Dolls
Saturday February 19, 2011
Where: Hamilton Place Theatre
Seats: First Balcony row N
I went to see The Goo Goo Dolls (formed in 1986) play in Hamilton with my family on the weekend. They are a band I listened to all the time and I always wanted to see them live. I finally got my chance and it was great. The opening act ended up being Steven Page (ex. The Barenaked Ladies) making the night twice as exciting. This was the night two 90’s giants came together and played a show in The Hammmmer.
Steven Page (40) came out at 8:00pm with a four-piece band including a multi-instrumentalist, bassist and drummer. They played songs from Steven Page’s solo work, which includes songs from his newest album Page One. He sounded awesome and very confident even though he has the massive shadow of The Barenaked Ladies over him. A couple notable songs played include “A New Shore”, “Indecision”, “Clifton Springs”, “Over Joy”, and “A Chorus Girl”. Steven Page sings exactly the way you want him to with that huge and experienced sound. The band was sonically solid playing a mix of pop/ rock and what to me sounds like a hint of folk. These songs can easily be sung along to making the Steven Page experience even better. Steven Page even played a few of The Barenaked Ladies hits including “It’s All Been Done”, and “Brian Wilson”. People went particularly crazy for these songs with good reason because these songs are amazing. The opening act gets a standing ovation I have never seen that before in my life. Steven Page has a new style where he wears the suits and it was visually appealing. The rest of the band was awesome too, especially, the multi instrumentalist whose duties included keyboard, accordion, trumpet, and percussion. I always wanted to see Steven Page with The Barenaked Ladies, but seeing him this way was good too.
After the intermission the lights went out and people went crazy as Johnny Rzeznik (vocals and guitar), Robby Takac (46) (bass and vocals), and Mike Malinin (43) (Drums) came out on stage. The Goo Goo Dolls played most of their hits and the less known songs. Johnny Rzeznik (45) announced to the crowd that he was sick, but he still put on an incredible show regardless. He moved around a lot getting people active. It’s hard for an audience when on the floor it is all seats. Robby Takac sang a few songs and you can see where the punk comes in. The hits make you think they only do pop/rock writing, but in the background there is a punk. A guitarist/mandolin player and mutli-instrumentalist (keyboard/ guitar/ saxophone) player accompanied the usual three-man group. With the two extra members they could get the musical depth they couldn’t get with three members. Johnny Rzeznik informed the Hamilton crowd of the extensive Canadian Tour they have embarked upon. He even told us about the screech in ritual in Newfoundland that he was the focus of. He pointed out to the crowd that we were accompanied by Buffalo and area residence. The Goo Goo Dolls are from Buffalo and you can tell Buffalo love their band. I think every person at the show love them too because it sure sounded like it. The Goo Goo Dolls set included “Dizzy”, “Here is Gone”, “Slide”, “Name”(if not for this song there would be no Goo Goo Dolls today), “Stay With You”, “Broadway” (cool addition of a saxophone for the solo), “Better Days”, “Black Balloon” (crowd threw black balloons around), and “Iris” (crowd went crazy and sang as loud as they could for this song. The epic solo is even more epic live.). They played the new song “Home” and it fits in nicely with the rest of the Dolls songs. It was a great show and a great look back to the good old days.
